The device runs a Tegra K1 SoC and has both Wi-Fi and LTE

Jul 19, 2014 04:45 GMT  ·  By

NVIDIA's first try at the Android market didn't go all that well, what with the Shield handheld gaming console turning in rather lackluster sales, but the company is determined to try again, with two mobile devices this time.

The handheld console is pretty easy to figure out: the Shield 2 will have better hardware than the first, complete with the ability to boost off any PC you might own. It will not have a screen, unlike the first Shield, since streaming to larger displays and all-in-one systems is its main purpose now.

The Shield 2 console/controller uses Wi-Fi direct technology (low-latency communications) and has, or will have, a price of $60 / €44.30 - €60.

The tablet has been a bit harder to pin down so far. We've known about the estimated time of arrival since the beginning of the month, but not about the technical details. Now, a report has both confirmed the ETA as well as finally brought to light what kinds of components are inside the 8-inch thing.

The NVIDIA Tablet will debut on July 22, which is next Tuesday, so hold onto your seats. The SoC (system-on-chip) that runs everything is, of course, the Tegra K1.

Tegra K1 has four ARM Cortex-A15 cores running at 2.3 GHz (each), plus a fifth, smaller and slower core that takes over when nothing strenuous is being done, for extra efficiency. K1 also has support for 4K output (3840 x 2160 pixels resolution), since the GPU is a Kepler-based unit with 192 CUDA cores.

In the NVIDIA Shield Tablet, this SoC is backed by 2 GB of of DDR3 RAM (random access memory) but cannot make the best of the video potential, since the screen is a Full HD one (1920 x 1080 pixels).

Then again, for a display with a diagonal of 8 inches, that is far better than average. Besides, the tablet will be able to stream video to larger displays via Wi-Fi or HDMI (presumably), so if you really want to play a UHD (ultra high definition) movie directly from your tab, you will be able to.

Moreover, the Shield Tablet is said to have 16 GB of integrated storage, but will come with 32 GB as well. In fact, the former only has Wi-Fi, while the latter also boasts LTE broadband support in addition to it.

On that note, the prices are quite different from one to the other. The Wi-Fi version of the NVIDIA Shield Tablet has, or will have, a tag of $300 / €300, while the one with LTE will need you to pay $400 / €400. An extra $40 / €40 will net you a fold-up stand, but sales for that will only start on July 29 in the US and August 14 in Europe.

NVIDIA Shield Tablet (6 Images)

NVIDIA Shield Tablet
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